haydn2tracie

hiya darren

i too am in the same position at the mo, waiting for TRA and wondering how the hell im goin to find the money to live over in oz, thats why im moving back into my parents house at the grand old age of 30 but my young sons happy so he can be spolit for afew months, im planning on having about 5 grand in the bank plus as many as my debts paid off over er.

good luck with everyting (shame about bike tho!!!!!)

tracie x

Miona

It depends on where in Australia you intend to settle. Also with kids it won't be so easy. If you come to Sydney where I live, rents for a 3 bed house are about $350 pw. Then there is the four weeks rent in advance and four weeks rent bond (which you get back but not until you leave the place you are renting). A car for $4K? Well it won't last long and with 2 kids you will need something a bit better than a bomb in which case you will be lucky to buy decent small car for between $15-$20K. There is no way a family will be able to live on $50 a week for food. We are a family of four and the cost for a week's groceries are close to $200 now (including meat and fruit and vegies). Petrol too is expensive now at $1.50 litre - still cheap by UK standards I know but once you live here you start to get used to the prices - will cost you about $60 pw to keep the tank of your small car full. Then there is the furniture for your house. Furnished places in OZ are not like in the UK and you have to provide everything yourself. Once again single people or couples can rough it in a hostel or share accommodation but with little ones you can't. Also how far your money will go will depend on how quickly you can get a job. You may be lucky and get something straight away but probably count on a couple of months before being successful. As for child benefit - you'd only get that if you have PR. Also child benefit goes on your income so if your household income was more than about $70Kpa then you don't get anything at all. I assume they need to check your last income tax statement from the UK and I'd say 30K pounds pa would be too much income to get child benefit. In saying all that I believe it could be done but only if you live in a small city - like Adelaide or somewhere costs of living are cheap. Don't come to Sydney unless you are prepared for high costs and are pretty sure you have a profession that will get you something with a high wage. Even long established Sydneyites find it almost impossible to live here on an average wage.

hoofie2002

I can't remember how much we came out with exactly [we only brought about 7000 dollars I think] but here's the breakdown of expenses just to get started :

Flights 1400 quid via Dubai with stopover
Accomodation - approx 1800 dollars to kick off including bond + 2weeks in advance then $275 per week.
Car Hire two weeks - $1000
Cars - one 6 year old nissan pulsar $9000. One 15 year terrano four wheel drive[diesel] - $9000. [We need two cars as we both work]. You can save money on cars but spending a little bit more will be worth it to avoid a clunker. p.s. used car prices here would make your eyes water.
Furniture - our stuff from the UK didn't arrive for a month so we had to buy two beds - $1200
TV - needed a new one as didn't take UK ones - $900 [I did splash out..]
Washing machine - $600
Fridge - $500
Chairs to sit on - I bought an outdoor furniture set first as least you can sit on it inside ! - $500

All in all, about $24000. The money for the cars was pulled from UK bank accounts via cash machines ! Ok, you can cut this to the bone, but you WILL need money for a rental deposit/bond, car hire, to buy a car and money to pay your rent/food/utilities. Don't be suckered into buying a cheap big engine aussie car, the fuel consumption will cripple you. We were very lucky in that my wife had a job to come to so we had income from day one almost. I don't know how anyone could come here now and 'hope' to get a job; you could be in for a VERY expensive holiday.

We spend about $250 a fortnight at the supermarket. You could get this down though.

Fuel $60 a week for each car

The other thing I cannot stress enough is CLEAR ALL of your UK debts if you can. DO NOT plan on sending money back to the uk; 1) Its expensive to transfer money oz bank to uk bank and 2) The exchange rates means that $500 is only 200 quid [or less] by the time it gets there.

As a final comment, it's been said many times before, but in WA house prices are mental. Perth median is now $400,000+ and I don't think you will find a 'house' for less than $300,000 now. Build prices are high [Dale Alcock, a major house building firm, in the paper today said his costs had rocketed] and land prices are even higher. I would assume a new build is at least $400,000 now, with a wait of 18 months-2 years for completion and as someone said, the build quality can be poor.

buck-egit

A very informative posting thanks

Darren

SJR

Hi Darren, I haven't read all of the responses so you may have already answered this question but, would you both have jobs fixed up in Perth prior to landing?? We left our house in the UK because we are getting good rent on it that more than covers the mortgage. It's in a very good area and is continuing to rise in value but more importantly I couldn't let go of it. My husband wanted to sell but I just wasn't ready. We bought the house from my parents and I lived in it when I was younger so am quite attached. So far it has been a good decision to do that but we've only been here 7 months.

We had quite a bit more money initially as we raised it on the house but in a way it took the pressure off hubby finding a job which meant there was no desperate urgency! The money went pretty quickly too when we were living off it and paying school fees. I got work early on, full time but wasn't earning much.

If you both have jobs it would make a huge difference but bear in mind that things always end up costing more than expected...in our experiences anyway.

Good luck, Sandra

dandd

some interesting and creative points been made here.

we chose to sell up coz the rent would have only just covered the mortgage, and there are too many variables making it too risky.

if you were likely to get a good yeld from renting (i.e. more than covering your costs) then i would be inclined to agree with your wife, but i would also suggest that you should seperate the uk house from the picture.

if your wife wants to keep the house, and the bottom line is written in black, then it probably remains a good investment, i think the remortgage idea is interesting, as long as it doesnt tip the balance.

the property market in WA is pretty extreme, not just perth metro but all along the coast and main routes (sea changers and tree changers are pushing up prices), then money youre talking about (150k?) will neither buy a good residence, nor will it be enough to build in the next 2 years (IMHO), and im not convinced it will be a wise financial move anyhow (again IMHO).

on a different note, im sure Oz isnt for everyone, so if there is any doubt before you arrive (in your or wifes mind), then better to make an inexpensive mistake (i.e. <£20k than an expensive mistake £150k+) but at least you would have given it a go.

ElshaUK

Well I am moving back to my father's home and will live there until myself and my partner are on our feet in the way of jobs etc. My Father will then allow us to rent one of his houses for a reasonable price until such time as we can afford the deposit on a mortgage. (I don't have to worry about furniture as Dad has the lot - down to electrical equipment as well)

I am going to have to continue to pay a loan from over there, though. I am leaving 6 months worth of repayments in my UK bank and then try for a loan once we are in jobs over there - then I will pay off the UK loan with an Aussie loan so that I don't have to keep transferring money and worrying about exchange rates (after the 6 months is up).

Have already spoken to my Dad about this as he may need to go guarantee on a loan or help us get the loan.

I have no choice but to go there and pay the loan from there....we rent a flat in London which is £910 a month with £136 council tax - staying here until the loan is paid off is a more expensive option than moving to Australia (especially seeing as how my flights were also paid by Dad) - Do you think he's eager to get his only Daughter back???

For us....this is our only option....

mick_newcastle

First things first - the Visa application itself - eats up a fortune even without an agent.
Don't think we would risk it with under £10k (2 adults) and no jobs lined up.
We are selling up and should have £40k to land with. 3 cats in tow. Going to rent until we are in a position to be able to get a mortgage after 2 years or so.

You could dip your toe in - Book return flights in case it goes pearshaped.
Try and find work when you are there and see if you can make ends meet - if you like it great - stay and sell your hose back home. If you don't then you have the return tickets - go back home and you still have a house and are only out of pocket by a couple of grand.

Good luck

BPadhiar

Me, my wife and 18 month son are emigrating and our breakdown is as follows:

We have to make a 100K AUD investment as part of our visa application, so will not see this until next year. After one year we should know where we are (i.e where to live and whether we want to continue to live in OZ). If we continue to live in OZ then use it as a deposit on a house otherwise use it to back in the UK.
We got this money by remortgaging our house and changing some loan terms to reduce the monthly payment. We aim to rent our house out for at least 2 years and then sell it (the rent will cover the monthly payment so it should look after itself).

We are aiming to take between 5-10K GBP (final figure depends on what we have after loans are cleared-must clear loans because of exchange rate) with us and I think this should be ok. As I have a nice cousin out in Perth, he has agreed to put us up for some time before we get sorted. Also he is prepared to give us some work in his shop as a temporary measure.

In terms of jobs I there are plenty of admin jobs to tie you over until you get the job you want and this should make sure you are ok for money. Saying this ideally I would like to get a job from here before I go - for peace of mind.

Again Good luck

jateai

I will be lucky if I have $5000 never mind £5000, but I'm not worried I came to the UK with less than £2500 and a 2 and 3 year old and I survived so don't worry.